Happiness at the continued breakdown of Fascist control, the Marchesa writes, was tempered with increasing gloom at the prospect of increased German control, and of intensifying Allied attempts to break that control. Indeed, as German presence in Rome and elsewhere in Italy intensified, difficulties in free transportation increased, more and more supplies were requisitioned by the German army, and more and more soldiers deserted the Italian army out of resistance to having to fight alongside German soldiers. Meanwhile, German determination to take custody of all prisoners of war, including the British prisoners still housed on the La Foce estate, increased, as did the determination of the Marchesa and her husband to keep "their" prisoners out of German hands. Eventually, as German activity increased all over Italy, the Marchesa and her husband plotted with Sergeant Knight, the leader of the British soldiers, to ensure they evaded...